wsjalphafandomcom-20200214-history
Hunter × Hunter
Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター Hantā Hantā), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. The story focuses on a young boy named Gon, who discovers that his father, whom he was told was dead, is actually alive. He learns that his father, Ging, is a world-renowned Hunter, a licensed profession for those who specialize in fantastic pursuits such as locating rare or unidentified animal species, treasure hunting, surveying unexplored enclaves, or hunting down lawless individuals. Despite Ging having left his son with his relatives in order to pursue his own dreams, Gon departs upon a journey to follow in his father's same footsteps, by attempting to pass the rigorous Hunter Examination, and eventually find his father. Along the way, Gon meets various other kinds of Hunters and also encounters the paranormal. The original inspiration for the manga came from Togashi's own collecting hobby. Hunter × Hunter began its manga serialization on March 3, 1998 in the Shueisha magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump. As of April 2012, 341 chapters have been published in 30 tankōbon (chapter collections) in Japan. However, the manga has frequently gone on hiatus since 2006. Hunter × Hunter was translated into English and released in North America by Viz Media beginning in April 2005. In 1999, the manga series was adapted into a 62-episode television anime series produced by Nippon Animation and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi. The anime premiered on Japan's Fuji TV and Animax. Three separate original video animations (OVAs) totaling 30 episodes were subsequently produced by Nippon Animation and released in Japan from 2002 to 2004. The television series has been licensed and released in North America by Viz, and it aired on the Funimation Channel starting in 2009. A second anime television series by Madhouse began airing on Nippon Television in October 2011. An upcoming anime film adaptation, featuring an original story, was announced in March 2012. There are also numerous audio albums, video games, musicals, and other media based on Hunter × Hunter. The Hunter × Hunter manga has been a financial success in Japan, having sold over 55 million copies there as of August 2011. Story Twelve years prior to the start of the story, Ging Freecss left his infant son, Gon, with Gon's aunt, Mito, on Whale Island. Gon, who was told all his life that both his parents were dead, finds out from Ging's apprentice, Kite, that his old man is still alive and has since become an accomplished Hunter. Hunters are licensed, elite members of humanity who are capable of tracking down secret treasures, rare beasts, or even other individuals. Gon leaves his home to become a Hunter like his father by taking the Hunter Examination, a series of brutal tests involving skill, survival, and teamwork. During the exam, Gon meets and eventually befriends three of the other applicants: Kurapika, the last remaining member of the Kurta clan whom wishes to become a Hunter in order to avenge his clan and recover their scarlet-glowing eyes, plucked from their corpses by a band of thieves known as the Phantom Troupe; Leorio, a prospective physician who desires the financial benefits Hunters receive in order to pay for medical school; and Killua Zoldyck, another twelve-year-old boy who has left his former life as a member of the world's most notorious assassin family. Among many other examinees, Gon continuously encounters Hisoka, a mysterious and deadly conjurer who takes an interest in Gon. The Final Phase of the Hunter Exam sees Gon passing the official part of the exam in anticlimax and Killua failing after killing another applicant out of frustration. However, it is then revealed that one more secret task is required of the applicants for them to pass the Exam. The trio then travels to Killua's home estate in order to retrieve the boy from his overbearing family. After Killua returns to the group, Leorio and Kurapika depart in order to accomplish their own goals; the four promise to meet again in Yorknew City in the September of that year. Gon and Killua decide to gain both combat experience and money at the Heavens Arena, a skyscraper where thousands of martial artists compete daily in fighting tournaments. There they meet a kung fu master named Wing, who trains them in utilizing Nen, a Qi-like life energy utilized by Hunters to manifest parapsychological abilities--also considered to be the final requirement to pass the Hunter Exam. In the climax of the arc, Gon refaces Hisoka in the Heavens Arena in his final challenge of the Examination. The next story arc reunites the main characters for the world's largest auction in the sprawling metropolis of Yorknew City. Gon, Killua, and Leorio try different methods to make enough money to buy Greed Island, an extremely rare and expensive video game with Nen-like properties that may help Gon locate his father. Meanwhile, Kurapika starts working as a bodyguard for a mafioso's daughter—a teenaged clairvoyant flesh collector whom is interested in a pair of Kurta Clan eyeballs being auctioned off. While at the auction, Kurapika crosses paths with the Phantom Troupe, whom are in Yorknew City in order to steal all of the goods from the mafia's underground auction. A gang war between the mafia and the Phantom Troupe rocks Yorknew City in the first week of September, eventually forcing the protagonists to all get involved and eventually cross paths. Kurapika struggles with his desires for revenge and his relationships, having to decide whether or not to sacrifice his friends as pawns in order to achieve his own vengeance. Hostages are taken and the climax of the arc results in an exchange between Kurapika and the leader of the Phantom Troupe, Chrollo Lucilfer. In the final days of the auction, Gon and Killua are hired by a multi-billionaire to play Greed Island, the billion-dollar video game created by Ging Freecss that takes place somewhere in the real world. The game, created with Nen, rewards one by allowing them the choice of taking three magical items from the game into the real world. Inside Greed Island, the Phantom Troupe starts to play the game for mysterious reasons, a player's alliance becomes dangerously close to completing the game, and an unknown serial bomber has been murdering players in order to clear the game first. Gon and Killua, outclassed by the difficulty of the challenges in the game, are soon joined and trained by an experienced teacher of Nen and kung fu master: Biscuit Krueger. With her help, Gon and Killua begin to take on the challenges of Greed Island and attempt to get closer to Gon's father. In the climax of the arc, Gon faces the serial bomber mano-a-mano and eventually wins Greed Island. Using two of his rewarded cards, Gon and Killua travel to the location of a player whom they believe to be Ging. However, it ends up bringing them to Kite instead. Alongside Kite, Gon and Killua briefly work as biological researchers in the country of Kakin. As they investigate a giant insect limb found on the country's shores, the group discover it came from a man-sized Chimera Ant queen, an insect that devours other creatures and then gives birth to progeny that inherit the characteristics of the different species it has eaten. The queen washes up onto an island nation called the Neo-Green Life (N.G.L.) Autonomous Region, inhabited by a neo-luddite culture. She quickly develops a taste for humans and builds a colony in order to conceive both an army of offspring and a Chimera Ant king named Meryem. The Chimera Ants proceed to wipe most of the population out before Gon, Killua, and Kite arrive. The queen dies during labor, and the king and his Royal Guards flee the N.G.L., secretly overthrowing the government of the nearby Republic of East Gorteau soon thereafter. Meanwhile, having left the N.G.L. for two months following an attack by the Chimera Ant Royal Guardsman Neferpitou, Gon learns that Kite is being manipulated by the ant and becomes enraged. Under the guise of the former king of the Republic, Meryem initiates the process of forcibly awakening Nen in the civilians of East Gorteau in order to select soldiers to join his own personal army to conquer the world, and convert the remaining inhabitants to foodstock. As Ants formerly under the queen's rule rejoin the king, the Hunter Association mobilizes quickly to stop the oncoming genocide by sending in an extermination team of Hunters to East Gorteau. Looking for a way to restore Kite to his normal state, Gon and Killua join the extermination team in order to find Neferpitou. The confrontation reaches its peak during a battle between the Chimera Ant King and Netero, the chairman of the Hunters Association, and a second meeting between Neferpitou and Gon. After the Chimera Ant incident has been resolved, the Hunter Association immediately begins the process of choosing Netero's replacement as Chairman, while the other Hunters try to have a new chairman elected by a voting system proposed by Gon's father Ging, Killua returns home to ask for his younger brother Alluka to help Gon, who is hospitalized in critical condition after his battle with Neferpitou. However, his family is unwilling to risk losing Alluka or having his dangerous powers used against them, but after evading his older brother Illumi's attempts to intercept him, Killua manages to bring Alluka to Gon's side and have him fully recovered, before sealing his powers completely to ensure his brother can have a normal life. After having a brief reunion with his father, Gon meets Kite once more and becomes relived that beside still living as an ant, he returned to his former self. With the burden of his guilt gone; Gon returns to the Hunter Association to finally question his father only to find that Ging has disappeared, leaving a message to say he would be waiting at the top of the World Tree. Gon and Killua must part ways, and Gon quickly ascends and meets Ging at the peak of the tree. Gon questions Ging about his goals and discovers the true nature of his father's quest. Meanwhile, a man introducing himself as Netero's son, Beyond, declares that he is assembling an expedition to the "Dark Continent," a remote and unexplored region cut off from the rest of world over 200 years ago. The current hiatus begins here, with no scheduled restart date thus far. Manga On March 3, 1998, the Hunter × Hunter manga began its ongoing serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine in Japan. Shueisha has compiled most of the manga's chapters into 30 tankōbon volumes thus far. Beginning in December 2011, Shueisha began republishing the manga into a magazine-style format instead of a little under 18 regular-sized tankōbon volumes. The company will publish one volume per month for a total of six volumes, covering through the end of the Greed Island story arc. In April 2005, Shaenon K. Garrity began translating the manga into English and publishing it through Viz Media. Viz marketed the manga as part of its "Shonen Jump Advanced" line for readers in their older teens and young adults. Twenty-seven volumes have been released in North America as of March 2011. Volume List This list contains all chapters current in Tankōbon/Volume format. |} Chapters Not In Volumes * 321. "Monster" (怪者 Kemono) * 322. "Siblings" (兄妹 Kyōdai) * 323. "Request" (依頼 Irai) * 324. "Stewards" (執事 Shitsuji) * 325. "Participation" (参戦 Sansen) * 326. "Opening" (開戦 Kaisen) * 327. "Riddle" (謎々 Nazonazo) * 328. "Arrangements" (手配 Tehai) * 329. "Spy" (密偵 Mittei) * 330. "Confession" (告白 Kokuhaku) * 331. "X-Day" (X日 Ekkusu Dē) * 332. "Applause" (喝采 Kassai) * 333. "Rumble" (鳴動 Meidō) * 334. "Complete Defeat" (完敗 Kanpai) * 335. "Decision" (決定 Kettei) * 336. "Cancellation" (解除 Kaijo) * 337. "Repentance" (懺悔 Zange) * 338. "Up In The Tree" (樹上 Jujō) * 339. "Silence" (静寂 Seijaku) * 340. "Special Assignment" (特命 Tokumei) Anime Hunter × Hunter had its first anime adaptation, by Nippon Animation, start on October 16, 1999 and go until March 31, 2001. An OVA series also by Nippon Animation, between January 17, 2002 and until August 18, 2004, was made to fill some of the gap. On October 2, 2011 first episode of the reboot of Hunter × Hunter aired on a different network than the first series and made by Madhouse, not Nippon Animation who animated the first series in 1999 and the OVA series. Madhouse's version of Hunter × Hunter is supposed to follow the manga closer than the first series. The new series has been successful and is getting a movie, a first for the Hunter × Hunter franchise, in January 2013. First Series (1999 - 2001) The first Hunter × Hunter anime adaptation was produced by Nippon Animation and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, who had previously directed the Rurouni Kenshin television series. A total of 62 episodes of Hunter × Hunter were broadcast on the Japanese terrestrial television network Fuji Television from October 16, 1999 to March 31, 2001 during the same Saturday evening timeslot as the anime version of Togashi's previous series YuYu Hakusho. Additionally, Hunter × Hunter has aired on the satellite television station Animax. Although it closely follows the manga, the violence in the anime version is lessened for younger audiences. Marvelous Entertainment has released all episodes of the series in Japan on DVD in 13 separate volumes between September 20, 2000 and September 19, 2001. Viz Media licensed the Hunter × Hunter anime for distribution in the Region 1 market, with English voice-work handled by The Ocean Group at Blue Water Studios in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The series was released on four DVD boxed sets from December 9, 2008 to December 1, 2009. Starting with the second set, Viz partnered with Warner Home Video to distribute the DVDs. Hunter × Hunter began airing in the United States on the Funimation Channel in the spring of 2009. Original Video Animations OVA (2002 - 2004) Prior to Nippon Animation's television adaptation of Hunter × Hunter, a stand-alone pilot OVA was shown as part of the "Jump Super Anime Tour" of 1998 alongside pilots for Seikimatsu Leader den Takeshi! and One Piece. Produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Noriyuki Abe, it depicts the early events of the manga up to Gon's ocean voyage from Whale Island. When the Hunter × Hunter anime covered most of its source material by 2001, Nippon Animation made the decision to end the adaptation rather than continue it with filler. Due to fans' unsatisfied reactions to the conclusion of the television series, three subsequent OVAs were produced by Nippon Animation. These carried the plot from where the broadcast left off during the Yorknew City arc and covered the Greed Island arc. The first OVA was directed by Satoshi Saga and ran for eight episodes in four released volumes from January 17 to April 17, 2002. The second OVA season, Hunter × Hunter: Greed Island, was directed by Yukihiro Matsushita and ran for eight episodes in four released volumes from February 19 to May 21, 2003. The third OVA season, Hunter × Hunter: G.I. Final, was directed by Makoto Sato and ran for 14 episodes in seven released volumes from March 3 to August 18, 2004. After the original anime's initial run on Animax, the OVAs were aired successively. Viz has shown no intention of releasing English versions of the OVAs. Reboot/Second Series (2011 - Present) A new Hunter × Hunter anime adaptation was announced in July 2011. Instead of continuing the story from the OVA series, it restarts the story from the beginning of the manga in an attempt to adapt it more accurately. The series is directed by Hiroshi Kōjina, produced by Madhouse, scripted by Jun Maekawa, and character designs were created by Takahiro Yoshimatsu. The series began airing on Nippon Television starting October 2, 2011. First Anime Film (2013) An upcoming anime film adaptation called Hunter × Hunter: Phantom Rouge, featuring an original story about Kurapika and the Phantom Troupe, was announced in March 2012. It's set to be released on January 12, 2013. Category:Series Category:Weekly Shōnen Jump